SHOPKEEPERS at the centre of a long-running battle for convenience store chain Londis were being courted by a second £60m bidder last night.

The potential approach to shopkeepers, including 50 in the North-East, by two former directors of T&S Stores, comes a month after Londis management agreed to back an offer from Budgens owner Musgrave.

Unlike the earlier bid, yesterday's proposal allows shopkeepers - who own the wholesaling and distribution business - to maintain majority ownership.

They will receive the same £31,000 windfall, but a proportion of the new offer will be in shares so that retailers will own 60 per cent of the company.

The rest will be in the hands of Nordic bank Kaupthing and the management buy-in team.

Londis shareholders, who are due to vote on the Musgrave offer at the end of next month, have yet to receive an official approach from the team.

Geoff Purdy, who was chief buying and marketing director at T&S before its takeover by Tesco in 2002, said his group's proposal gave shopkeepers the chance to benefit from any future improvement in trading at Londis.

Mr Purdy said: "Londis is a superb business which has so much potential to be unlocked. Our proposal gives shopkeepers the best of both worlds. They will not only receive good value for part of their share of the business, but also, importantly, they will retain a majority stake in the business."

The earlier approach from Musgrave was made after a review of the Londis operation by KPMG found that it needed a strategic partner to progress in the increasingly competitive convenience store sector.

Musgrave sparked takeover interest in Londis six months ago when it made a £40m approach that, controversially, included a £20m windfall for four Londis executives. Directors later agreed to a one-off payment of £2m.